Arch

Arch

Mayela Grávalos Arantxa Piñate Adriana Garcia


 * Definition**

The arch is a curved structure sustaining superiorly closing an opening or a hole, so all its parts are compressed and none of them occur extensions. These pressures are transmitted to the support (columns) which holds the arch ends.


 * Advantages and Disadvantages**

(1) Wide openings could be spanned with small, light blocks in brick as well as stone, which were easy to transport and to handle; (2) The arch was bent upward to resist and to conduct into its supports the loads that tended to bend the lintel downward.


 * Elements of the Arch**

In an arch structure, all of the elements hold each other in place. This is a general representation of the proportions and technical elements.
 * 1) Keystone
 * 2) Voussoir
 * 3) Extrados
 * 4) Impost
 * 5) Intrados
 * 6) Buttress


 * Types** **of arch**

The various forms of arches are based on the intrados line can be straight, broken, curved or mixed:
 * Flat Arch
 * Corbelled Arch
 * Semicircular Arch
 * Venetian Arch
 * Ogee Arch
 * Triangular Arch
 * Bullseye Arch
 * Bell Arch
 * Gothic Arch
 * Skewed Arch
 * Segmental Arch
 * Foil Arches
 * Arches based
 * on circular arcs
 * Geometrical Arches

¨ Arch structure was known by civilizations in Ancient Near East, the Levant, and Mexico but they did not make use of it. ¨ The Etruscans were the first civilization to use an arch. ¨ Etruscans invented imposts. ¨ After the Romans conquered the Etruscans, they assimilated the arch to fit into their architectural scheme. ¨ The Romans were the first builders in Europe, perhaps the first in the world, fully to appreciate the advantages of the arch, the vault and the dome. ¨ The segmental arch was first built by the Romans who realized that an arch in a bridge did not have to be a semicircle. ¨ The semicircular arch was followed in Europe by the pointed Gothic arch. ¨ The semicircular arch can be flattened to make an elliptical arch. ¨ Parabolic arches were introduced in construction by the Spanish architect AntoniGaudí. ¨ The first known built horseshoe arches are known from Aksum(modern day Ethiopia and Eritrea) from around the 3rd–4th century.
 * History of Arch**


 * Uses of the Arch**

The arch is considered one of the most important invention in architecture due to its strength, simplicity and economy. The use of the can be seen in churches, aqueducts, bridges, colleges, some homes and monumental structures (triumphal arches).